Chapter 611: The Nascent Soul's Rage of the Zhengmo Alliance

Jiang Ding concealed his form, flying through the Spiritless Desert.

Yellow sand stretched in every direction, along with tornado storms; for ten thousand li there was no sign of human life, not a drop of green vitality existed, and spiritual energy was utterly absent.

This kind of environment was naturally a holy land for blocking cultivators' searches; even without being skilled in concealment and shielding arts, one was extremely hard to detect in such a place.

Any kind of aura-tracking, karmic-tracking, or bloodline-tracking would be greatly weakened in both range and precision.

In the Cultivation World, no matter what method was used, it ultimately had to be grounded in the existence of spiritual energy.

At the same time,

Above Master Tushan Xiancheng, space was torn open one after another; one after another, figures with overwhelming auras appeared in the sky, their heavy oppressive might rippling out in all directions, each one's Law Domain enveloping the surroundings, spiritual energy frozen solid as iron.

"Greetings… Master Dinghai Zhenjun!"

"Greetings, Master Dinghai Zhenjun!"

Below, more than a hundred thousand cultivators had yet to flee—mostly Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment cultivators of the General Heishi main line—who had been fighting amongst themselves, corpses continually hitting the ground, scrambling for control of Master Tushan Xiancheng, especially its regional wealth and third- and fourth-rank spirit veins, locked in a vicious melee.

At this moment, upon seeing Nascent Soul-level auras appear in the sky, they were instantly terrified pale, their bodies trembling.

These Nascent Soul Master Dinghai Zhenjun numbered six in total, coming from different Northern Plain families; some were long-standing enemies of the General Heishi, having forged blood feuds in the Northern Plain civil war thousands of years ago that even nine generations could not wash away.

But now, upon receiving the call for aid, they had rushed over at once.

"Master Tushan!"

"Good, very good…"

They stared coldly down at the battered Master Tushan Xiancheng below, their divine sense sweeping over the Scripture Pavilion, the clan treasury, the secret vaults—especially upon seeing the Heishizu Sect's ancestral shrine smashed to pieces and then burned to ash by fire, surging fury and icy killing intent rose in their eyes.

The Foundation Establishment and Qi Refining cultivators below were terrified, their bodies shaking ceaselessly, fear filling their hearts.

After a moment,

Finally, someone trembling raised their head, took a quick glance, and revealed a look of wild joy, so excited that tears streamed down.

"Greetings, Zhenjun Gui Fu Master Dinghai Zhenjun!"

"Greetings, Tian Hua Master Dinghai Zhenjun!"

"Greetings, Zhenjun He Huan Master Dinghai Zhenjun, greetings, Bingyu Master Dinghai Zhenjun…"

The many General Heishi main-line Foundation Establishment and Qi Refining cultivators were overjoyed, and once again performed the grand ceremony—not a simple kneel, but spreading out a pair of pitch-black spell-formed crow feathers, prostrating and fluttering them.

The greeting for each Nascent Soul Master Dinghai Zhenjun differed, depending on the faction the Master Dinghai Zhenjun belonged to; it was an audience ritual passed down through long ages.

As members of the General Heishi main line, the education they received from childhood included the appearances and characteristics of the major factions' Nascent Soul Master Dinghai Zhenjun and their descendants, lest they offend the other party by accident, bring death upon themselves, and bring disaster upon the clan.

"Master Dinghai Zhenjun, please uphold justice for our General Heishi!"

"Master Dinghai Zhenjun! For the sake of our ancestors, please save our General Heishi!"

At this moment, after boldly raising their heads for a glance, the many General Heishi main-line Foundation Establishment cultivators sobbed uncontrollably: "The old thief Master Tushan secretly harmed our patriarch, killed our uncles, destroyed our Heishizu Sect's ancestral land, cut off ten-thousand-year ancestral sacrifices—truly he is guilty beyond measure, utterly depraved, treasonous in the extreme!"

"If this old thief is not removed, our Northern Plain will know no peace, and the ancestors beneath the nine springs will know no peace!"

"And those many vassal clans, knowing no respect of station, slaves murdering their masters—unheard of! Such beasts who know no station and forget kindness should all be slain, their clans wiped out, as a warning to others!"

Every one of the General Heishi main-line bloodline cultivators had been living in terror these past days, afraid that at any moment a Jin Dan cultivator would break into the immortal city and slaughter them clean, trembling with fear at every instant.

Now, all their emotions poured out at once, one after another lodging their complaints, gazing pleadingly at the Nascent Soul Master Dinghai Zhenjun in the sky.

These Northern Plain family Master Dinghai Zhenjun showed different reactions—some revealed looks of pity and empathy, some were furious, some were cold-faced.

The only common point was that no Nascent Soul Master Dinghai Zhenjun paid any attention to the Foundation Establishment and Qi Refining cultivators below, not even offering a word of comfort.

Whatever their attitude, kind or malicious, without Jin Dan, in their eyes they didn't even have the qualification to be spoken to—merely walking blades of grass.

Obedience and compliance were all that was required; no words were needed.

The General Heishi, whatever the name, had in reality already lost their position within the Zhengmo Alliance.

"It has been confirmed—the Divine Crow is indeed dead; even the Nascent Soul failed to escape."

Someone murmured.

"In just a few short decades, another clan's ancestral sacrifices have been severed."

Over the past two hundred years, such incidents had occurred one after another, stirring even Master Dinghai Zhenjun's hearts, leaving them unable to find peace.

Their generation was destined not to enjoy the ease of previous generations of cultivators; facing threats to survival, they had to keep advancing, keep fighting, until enemies were utterly destroyed and ancestral lands restored.

"However!"

"This time, it is not the Dari Sect, not the Dari Sword Sect!"

Tian Hua Master Dinghai Zhenjun of the Yin clan of the Heavenly Being Dao of Liu Dao Sect spoke coldly, killing intent chilling: "Just some wild cultivator from god-knows-where, brazen beyond belief!"

"If even such a person can wantonly provoke our Northern Plain families, then we might as well slit our own throats and wait for death, and needn't bother fighting over Northern Plain hegemony."

"What say you all?"

He swept a cold gaze around.

"This thief must be slain."

"Take his head, take his Nascent Soul, proclaim it to the world, as a warning to others!"

"Kill Master Tushan…"

One by one, the Nascent Soul cultivators—whether of righteous dao families or demonic dao families, whatever their political stance—all spoke up now with surging killing intent.

"Brother Zhenjun Gui Fu…"

All the Nascent Soul cultivators looked toward Zhenjun Gui Fu Master Dinghai Zhenjun, who was mid Nascent Soul.

The Guishan Tie family, as the righteous dao family responsible for ritual in the Northern Plain, had for generations been charged with hunting down runaway slaves and maintaining the unshakable rule of the Northern Plain immortal-blood lineages; each generation was steeped in tracking arts.

In the past, when newly ascended outsider Nascent Soul cultivators, or Nascent Soul cultivators drifting over from other parts of the Cultivation World, caused trouble in the Northern Plain, it was always the Guishan Tie family who tracked and locked them down, then summoned the various great families' Nascent Soul cultivators to surround and kill them; very few ever escaped.

But upon looking, everyone's expression shifted slightly.

"Puh!"

"Impossible…"

Zhenjun Gui Fu Master Dinghai Zhenjun's face abruptly darkened; he forcibly suppressed something, but after several breaths, he could no longer hold it in, and suddenly spat out a great mouthful of dark-red fresh blood, his face deathly pale, his aura withered.

"Brother Zhenjun Gui Fu?!"

The strikingly beautiful, neither-man-nor-woman Tian Hua Master Dinghai Zhenjun felt a bad premonition. Their fingers wove through hand seals, and streams of clear light scattered outward—the Liu Dao Sect's curse-dispelling art.

"Nothing."

"No curse or trap."

Zhenjun Gui Fu Master Dinghai Zhenjun's face darkened: "This place is too clean! Not only is there no trace of that old thief of Tushan, there's not even the aura of the Golden Core cultivators from the various vassal clans. It's as if the Nine Heavens' Gale swept through here—nothing left behind at all."

"I even used several tracking arts that severely drain one's vital essence, yet still came up with absolutely nothing."

"That old thief must be thoroughly versed in concealment and cleansing arts!"

The faces of the many Nascent Soul cultivators sank.

In such a vast Northern Plain, in such a vast Cultivation World, a Nascent Soul cultivator skilled in concealment arts could hide anywhere they pleased—like searching for a needle in the ocean. Who could possibly find them?

Even if one possessed ten or even dozens of times that person's strength, what good is it if you can't find them?

(End of Chapter)